Liz Truss has been urged to rethink triggering Article 16 over the Northern Ireland Protocol as relations between the UK and EU could get “very bumpy”.
Liz Truss
It has been tipped that Ms Truss’ first act as Prime Minister could be to trigger Article 16 allowing the suspension of parts of the deal between the EU and UK.
Article 16 of the protocol sets out the process for taking unilateral “safeguard” measures if either the EU or UK concludes the deal is leading to serious practical problems or causing diversion of trade.
Safeguard measures can be taken if the protocol is leading to serious “economic, societal or environmental difficulties” that are liable to persist.
In July the UK Government said, in its opinion, the threshold has been reached for using safeguards, but it is choosing not to use them for now.